Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so I got my first Turantula and it is about 4-5 years old and thought to be a female. It is a rose hair as I thought I should start with one that is a little easier to care for than the ones I really want.
Anyway she came in a 15gal tank and the substrat was moldy so I moved her and cleaned the tank out. The only thing the pet store had that would work for substrate was eco-earth and I am planning on mixing in either peat moss or potting soil. What would be better?
She has only been fed non-gut loaded crickets and I was wondering if I should give her gut-loaded superworms or should I stick to crickets but gut-load them? I have both because of my geckos and also have mealworms but know they are not as good.
My house stays between 65-70 in the winter so I put a low watt heat mat on the side of her cage to keep it a little warmer for her. Is this needed?
One last thing. How much substrate do I need in her cage as I have read everything fron a couple inches to fill the tank until there is only a couple inches from the top? And how often do I need to compleatly clean the tank or is just spot cleaning enough?
Sorry for all the questions just want the best for my T.
I'll get a pic up as i'm not so sure about this really being a rose hair as most of the pics on-line look very different from her.

Here are the pics.

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0.1? G. Rosea?
0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.2 Ferrets
0.4 Mice
1.2 Cats
2.3.8 Fish
1.1.1 Human Children
1.0 Wonderful Boyfriend

>>Anyway she came in a 15gal tank and the substrat was moldy so I moved her and cleaned the tank out. The only thing the pet store had that would work for substrate was eco-earth and I am planning on mixing in either peat moss or potting soil. What would be better?

A 15 gallon tank is a little big for a G. rosea, but it'll still work. The eco-earth is just fine and you don't need to mix it with anything. But if you want to peat moss, potting soil, or both is fine. Just make sure it is plain potting soil with no chemicals whatsoever.

>>She has only been fed non-gut loaded crickets and I was wondering if I should give her gut-loaded superworms or should I stick to crickets but gut-load them? I have both because of my geckos and also have mealworms but know they are not as good.
>>My house stays between 65-70 in the winter so I put a low watt heat mat on the side of her cage to keep it a little warmer for her. Is this needed?

Gut load will obviosly be better nutrition, but if you feed non-GL it's fine too. The heat mat isn't necessary, but if you want to use it it is fine. It is correct to put it on the side of the tank.

>>One last thing. How much substrate do I need in her cage as I have read everything fron a couple inches to fill the tank until there is only a couple inches from the top? And how often do I need to compleatly clean the tank or is just spot cleaning enough?

Ideally you want to add substrate to eliminate the possibility of falling, so the height from the substrate to the top should be no more than the legspan of the T. This isn't always practicle, I'd probably fill it at leats halfway though. Spot cleaning is just fine, you almost never have to completely clean out a cage unless you want to. The longest I've had a tank go without cleaning is about 4 years, and I only chabged it because I was rehousing.

Hope this helps.
KJ
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KJ Vezino
My Gallery
Missouri Tarantula Enthusiasts Group

Thanks after reading a bunch of care sheets I just took what they had in common but figured I should make sure I got it right.

I am wondering if this is a G.Rosea as the person I got it from just knew that her ex got it from a pet store. The only Ts I have seen in the pet stores near me are always labled as rosehairs but I'm not so sure on her.
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0.1? G. Rosea?
0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.2 Ferrets
0.4 Mice
1.2 Cats
2.3.8 Fish
1.1 Aquatic Frogs
1.1.1 Human Children
1.0 Wonderful Boyfriend

Your pictures look like a G. rosea to me.
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KJ Vezino
My Gallery
Missouri Tarantula Enthusiasts Group

Ok just wanted to make sure. And is it normal for then to create lots of webs in a short amount of time? When I want to bed last night there were only a couple spots with very little webbing and when I looked in this morning she has covered about half the hide in webs.
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0.1? G. Rosea?
0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.2 Ferrets
0.4 Mice
1.2 Cats
2.3.8 Fish
1.1 Aquatic Frogs
1.1.1 Human Children
1.0 Wonderful Boyfriend

Is it normal for a G. rosea to make lots of webs? YES
Is it normal for a G. rosea to make no webs? YES

Basically anything a G. rosea does that seems out of the ordinary is quite normal. They are quirky like that.
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KJ Vezino
My Gallery
Missouri Tarantula Enthusiasts Group

Thank you. One last question, so her digging up all the substrate in her tank would also be normal as I've noticed she has been rearaging the dirt.
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0.1? G. Rosea?
0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.2 Ferrets
0.4 Mice
1.2 Cats
2.3.8 Fish
1.1 Aquatic Frogs
1.1.1 Human Children
1.0 Wonderful Boyfriend

Does the 1.1.1 Human Children mean that you have a hermaphrodite Child?! That would be awesome.... Congrats on the T looks great!

Lol my children are listed as 1.1.1 because I'm pregnant and don't know what I'm having yet as I'm only 20 weeks and haven't had an ultrasound yet so as of now it is unknown.
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0.1? G. Rosea?
0.2 Leopard Geckos
2.2 Ferrets
0.4 Mice
1.2 Cats
2.3.8 Fish
1.1 Aquatic Frogs
1.1.1 Human Children
1.0 Wonderful Boyfriend

Yep, normal behavior.

Have you read this yet?
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html
it will help.
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KJ Vezino
My Gallery
Missouri Tarantula Enthusiasts Group

Well congrats on the future human as well!